Death wire reconstruction

In the spring of 1915 (WW1 1914-1918) the Germans tried to stop the smuggling by laying the death wire. A high-voltage electrical wire should deter smugglers. The high voltage on the death wire ensures that people are electrocuted at the slightest contact with the wire. The inhabitants did not yet know the dangers of electricity at this time. To the left and right of the electric barrier, a protective wire was placed in barbed wire or in chicken wire. Inventive smugglers soon found numerous ways to overcome the thread: barrels without a bottom, a wooden window system, rubber protective clothing... However, hundreds of daredevils along the entire Belgian-Dutch border had to pay for their crossing with their lives, including at least three victims in De Klinge and Meerdonk.

drumont